Yahoo Lifestyle Bringing Sexy Back
By Sandra Nygaard
Old photos have a nasty tendency to immortalise the wardrobe disasters of your past.
But Justin Timberlake’s blunders were witnessed by a bigger audience than most – check out the picture above or some old *NSYNC videos on YouTube for the cringe-worthy proof.
“Most guys in high school wore clothes seen only by their classmates. I wore clothes seen by the world,” laughs Timberlake. The gelled, bleached-blond curls and coordinated stage costumes were captured on the pages of glossy magazines read by thousands.
“They’re documented and they look absolutely ridiculous,” he adds.
He can laugh now. Since then, several massively successful solo albums, movie roles, a denim label and a bombshell wife – Jessica Biel – have eventuated. Timberlake’s wardrobe has evolved as well. “I don’t think men figure out what they’re really about until they’re 25,” says Timberlake, now 33 years old. “That’s when they start to feel like themselves.”
Once Timberlake started trusting his style sense, he could try a three-piece suit with runners onstage. It worked. “You sit back and take stock; you stop running in different directions and you let things come to you,” he says. “You can wear clothing, rather than having it wear you.”
Timberlake looked to icons for inspiration: Johnny Cash, early Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin. “It was more about a certain swagger than the actual clothing,” he says. His stepfather, Paul Harless, taught him respect for the ritual of dressing. Harless would lay out his suit before bed, matching his shoes to his belt, choosing socks that went with his tie. “It wasn’t always about colour coordination – it was what he envisioned to be the full picture,” says Timberlake.
Timberlake rarely wore a scent until French fragrance house Parfums Givenchy tapped him as the face of its men’s brand, Play. With his input, they developed two versions: one fresh and citrusy, the other warmer, more intense and woodsy. The process helped him appreciate the role of cologne in his “full picture”.
“The right scent can make you feel a little more stylish,” he says. “But it should never eclipse who you are. It should complement who you are.”
